VEON: Our Ambition Is to Engage with Our Customers for the Entire 1,440 Minutes that Make up Each Day

“Our ambition as a leading global digital operator is to be relevant and to engage with our customers for the entire 1,440 minutes that make up each day,” says VEON Group CEO Kaan Terzioğlu in an interview with ZTE Technologies that focuses on the company’s digital operator strategy and endeavors to tackle the challenges in operating diverse markets. He emphasizes “4G-for-all” and shares with us how ZTE helps VEON to achieve this objective. VEON, headquartered in Amsterdam, is a global digital operator that provides converged connectivity and online services to over 200 million customers. Operating across seven countries that are home to more than 8% of the world’s population, VEON is transforming people’s lives, creating opportunities for greater digital inclusion and driving economic growth across the markets the company operates in. Headquartered in Amsterdam, VEON is listed on NASDAQ and Euronext.

As a CEO for VEON and a GSMA Board member, how do you see the growth of Telecom industry? What’s your strategy to transform VEON from a Telecom operator to a digital operator and how the next-generation technologies such as MobileID, 5G, AI, big data can help this transformation?

Telecoms is an industry that is constantly evolving. We have been driving a Group-wide strategy of transition from being a telecoms provider to a leading digital operator for the past few years. Our digital operator strategy continues to demonstrate solid results across our markets. This strategy rests on the goal of providing VEON’s growing number of 4G customers with the data-enabled digital services that they may need during any of the 1,440 minutes in a day. This drives both data usage and engagement, supported by the digital offerings of VEON’s Operating Companies.

For example, in Pakistan, the digital financial services platform JazzCash recorded an increase in monthly active users of 17.6% YoY for 8M 2022, bringing the total up to 16.1 million MAUs.

The recent round A investment by VEON Ventures in the SME lending platform Dastgyr in Pakistan is delivering synergistic results for JazzCash, with over 250,000 new merchants in the process of being added using the JazzCash wallet and 120,000 new merchants able to access the Dastgyr e-commerce solution. We believe that this kind of strategic partnership benefits both our own operating performance and the value of our venture investments.

In Ukraine, Kyivstar has acquired a majority stake in Helsi, a leading e-health platform. The app is connected to more than 1,600 public and private healthcare institutions throughout Ukraine and more than 30 million people have registered with the system within the first 8 months of the year.

We have also continued to expand digital services via new initiatives. In Bangladesh, the digital entertainment service Toffee has launched a new program that enables content creators to monetize their work. Toffee users will also be able watch the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which will undoubtedly attract more users to the platform. Last month, Banglalink reached the milestone of 5 million MAUs of its self-care application (78% YoY growth), and VEON OpCos now bring relevant, transformational self-care service to 35 million customers across our footprint.

Beeline in Russia has introduced Beeline Cloud, which delivers virtual server capacity, data storage systems, resources for high load and powerful computing, and remote employee workstations. In August 2022, the service saw 5x year-on-year revenue growth. Beeline Cloud also provides an environment for developing digital products for its B2B customers.

Finally, in Kazakhstan, our music and audio streaming service IZI continues to expand. We have now made IZI accessible to all people in Kazakhstan and we continue to add content, including three new radio stations showcasing music by local artists.

We also believe that communications for citizens is as vital as food, water and shelter, and is a basic humanitarian need. The telecom industry must look to have a major impact on the whole of society. That may be through digital education, digital healthcare, banking the unbanked or providing fundamental humanitarian support. The telecommunications industry has a responsibility to grow responsibly, sustainably, and mindfully.

Next-generation technologies can certainly help accelerate the global transition to a fully digital society. For example, I am proud to say VEON has played a leading role in the MobileID (Mobile Connect) initiative alongside with other partners, helping safeguard consumers and online companies to the threat of cybercrime and ensure efficient personal data management. Incorporating 5G, AI and Big Data based products certainly assists this transition, however, to establish an all-encompassing transition in the industry, we must ensure it is firstly available to all.

What are the major challenges for VEON, and how are you tackling them, like operating in diverse markets, how do you leverage the synergies within the group?

The humanitarian efforts is a critical way in which we are facing up to various challenges across our operating countries.

For example, In Ukraine, Kyivstar continues its exceptional work to protect its network from both physical and cyber threats. Thanks to the team’s diligent efforts, 93% of the network remains operational. Kyivstar has become a pivotal leader in Ukraine’s cybersecurity efforts. The company is cooperating with local authorities as well as international partners to implement best practices and become a hub to help other companies secure their connectivity and operations.

Elsewhere, VEON has been supporting people in Pakistan who have been impacted by the recent floods. Via Jazz, JazzCash and Mobilink Microfinance Bank, we have provided free connectivity in flood-affected areas, in addition to the ongoing distribution of emergency supplies, as part of our PKR 1 billion (USD 4.5 million) pledge to humanitarian relief efforts.

We have furthered our commitment to boost connectivity in other markets, such as Uzbekistan and Bangladesh. We just announced new initiatives aimed at bridging the IT talent gap in Uzbekistan and supporting the country’s plan to become a major IT hub in Central Asia. Beeline Uzbekistan will be opening a regional hub for AdTech services, bringing in leading digital advertising expertise, in addition to expanding its big data analytics and cybersecurity labs in the country.

As is the case with multinationals operating in varying markets across the globe, ensuring everyone shares common vision, culture and goals is vital, and enables us to deliver a fantastic service to our customers, employees and stakeholders.

Our approach is to let our operating companies define what is best for the countries they operate in. While we still promote best practices across the Group, we avoid dictating solutions that might work well in one country but be inappropriate in others.

What about your experience with ZTE and how can ZTE help you reach your company's targets? 

We are actively engaged with ZTE across our entire footprint.

In Bangladesh, ZTE’s working in tandem with Banglalink, was able to deliver to its customers 2.3 GHz TDD technology, achieving continuous improvements in network speed and coverage across the country, working towards better mobile connectivity for users across Bangladesh.

Together we were able to achieve a remarkable speed of service roll-out at certain instances reaching the roll-out of more than 500 base stations per month.

In September, Banglalink announced the commercial launch of Bangladesh’s first next generation 4G TDD-LTE Service with ZTE. Banglalink is set to double internet speeds with its next generation 4G network, increasing productivity and boosting economic growth among the country’s 92.8% of internet users that rely on 4G for access to digital services. We are able to keep the leading position of the network speed in Bangladesh by achieving 190% increase in 4G throughput, 100% capacity improvement.

Through our joint work with the roll-out of Virtual Core, RAN, and Transportation networks, ZTE has proved to be a great strategic partner for VEON. We share common targets in aiming to offer a better digital experience to our customers and through the continuation of our partnership we will be able to bring transformative initiatives to our clientele.

What are your expectations and suggestions for ZTE in the future?

ZTE is an important and strategic partner for VEON, and we have worked closely with ZTE on network infrastructure in several countries including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Russia. This has been particularly important in building out the 4G service, enabling our customers to engage with our digital services through their mobile devices. Our belief is that “4G-for-all” is more important that 5G for a few, and ZTE is helping us to make that happen.

We also feel that ZTE shares our belief that connectivity and communications transform lives of our subscribers. Where people lack entertainment services, we can provide these. Where people do not have access to bank accounts or new education opportunities, we can make these happen.